Well Paced, Atmospheric, Dark action, Hell never looked so good
Right a little back ground on Doom for the un-initiated basically theres a base on mars doing all sorts of experiments with teleportation etc...one day Demons turn up and all hell breaks loose...you play one tough marine caught up in it all fighting his way thorugh the hoards of hades.
Doom 3 serves as a fresh start to the story...since the end of doom 2 saw our hero practically wreck hell the guys decided it was time to start from the beggining and head back to mars...with new hardware's power and a stronger focus on narrative. Once again you play as a marine...you start the game freshly assigned to a scentific base on mars as extra security and are in the think of it when the demons start to turn up.... as you progress through the game you uncover tales of bizarre experiments and strange artifacts discovered in excavations all the time blasting your way through darkened corridors of the crippled base crawling with the possesed personnel and horrific hell dwellers.
Gameplay wise Doom offers a change of pace from many first person shooters...you usually encounter just a small number of enemies at a time though at some stages you do find yourselves in large battles surrounding by salivating beasts, but for the most part its claustrophobic encounters in dark corridors all the way.
Doom has a great way if making you never feel safe...regardless of the situation...picture this you've cleared out a section of the base...wading as that last imp that was hiding in the administrators office is turning into ash and what's that on the desk...why its the elevator access codes you were after...grab them...SUDDENLY all goes dark all your here is maniacle laughter and bizzare chanting bizzare arcane symbols glow all over the room...red emergency lighting activates illuminating two hideous beasts that have been teleported in either side of you with the sole purpose of scratching your eyes out....of course if it was all drama all the time you'd get used to it but the game consistently suprises you with bluffs of creatures that aren't really there..it's dark you hear something shining your torch down a corridor your see a flicker of a shadow scarper round a corner, raising your shotgun you dash after it only to see nothing...then suddenly you take damage from the back from a non pretend creature that crept out of an air vent silently while you were chasing shadows.
Doom 3s awesome visuals have remained impressive on the xbox port of the game and the awesome lighting effects help give the game its great intense atmosphere.
On Xbox live you have the option to play through sections of the game cooperatively with a partner giving a whole new dimention of play...it's great talking to a friend on xbox live headsets as you both creep round in the dark and then both go into a mad firing frenzy as something jumps out of the shadows at you.
So Doom 3 has great visuals...solid gameplay and buckets of atmosphere that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout old school doom fans will love the chance to see their favourite monsters new generation makeovers and the chance to chainsaw, shotgun, plasma rifle and BFG them all over again. So if you like a good first person and have the spine for it then pick up Doom 3 switch off the lights and enjoy.